


Going Up?

by SamanthaGirlScout



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fluff, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 05:51:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20371747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamanthaGirlScout/pseuds/SamanthaGirlScout
Summary: Alya has been crushing on the local baker's daughter for a while. What'll happen when she finally has a chance to talk to her outside of ordering her favorite pastries?





	Going Up?

"Thanks! Come again," Marinette Dupain-Cheng-AKA-the-light-of-Alya's-life said as she smiled one of the most blinding smiles that Alya had ever had ever been blessed with.

"S-sure." She took the bag of goodies from her and did her best not to trip over her own feet in the process of rejoining her friend Adrien and his friend and fellow classmate Chloe. They'd decided to drop by this bakery on their way to class for a snack before they went to their first lecture of the day.

Or at least, that was the excuse Alya gave them every single morning she convinced them to stop by here.

"You know," Adrien began as they exited the bakery and made their way towards the university's humanities building. "If you wanted to ask the baker's daughter out, all you've gotta do is walk up to her and ask for her number."

Alya groaned. She'd tried her hardest to not make her feelings obvious… but if the sly look on Adrien's face was anything to go by, she wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"It's not that simple Adrien. You of all people should know. How many times have you gone over to Nino's dorm and 'forgotten how late it was' without making a single move?"

"That's… different."

"I don't see how it is. You're pining just as hard as I am."

"At least I've made friends with my crush."

"Ugh," Chloe said, slamming her trash into a passing trash can. "You're both disasters. If I hear another word about how pathetic the two of you are, I'm going to take action and neither of you are going to like that."

Alya hadn't known Adrien's friend for very long, they weren't that far into the semester and Sociology was the first class that they had ever shared together. But, despite that, she was pretty sure that she would make good on her threat. And, from the nervous look on Adrien's face, she didn't particularly want to find out what she'd do. 

"Look, I don't have any classes with her, she's always working at her parents bakery or working on homework in the library, and I don't even know if she knows my name. How on earth am I supposed to ask her out?"

"Well I mean, Nino is friends with her."

Alya stopped dead in her tracks. "And why did you wait until  _ now  _ to mention that?!"

"It never came up!" Adrien brought up his hands in an attempt to placate her. "Apparently they kind of grew up together. Though, if you're going to be mad at anyone, you should probably be mad at Chloe…"

Alya rounded on the girl who was giving her the most disinterested look. "What?"

"You're friends with Marinette?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng? I'm not exactly sure if 'friends' is the most accurate term to use…" She readjusted her shoulder bag. "We went to the same school together, yes, but we didn't exactly get along very well."

Adrien looked at her dubiously. "That's not what you told me after that one Christmas party where—"

Chloe pounced on Adrien, eyes wild, as she scrambled to cover his mouth. "Stop saying unnecessary things!"

"You two dated?" 

"Not… exactly." Chloe took her hands off of Adrien and started toying with her necklace absently. "I wasn't exactly a nice person in  _ college _ and most of  _ lycee _ . Marinette kind of just… took it for a long time until… until she didn't anymore. And, if I'm being frank, that was really hot to me. What we had that last year didn't really work out, and it certainly didn't last, but we got through it. We're not exactly friends now, but at least we've sorted things enough that we won't rip each other's hair out on sight anymore."

"Oh."

"That being said." Chloe smiled coyly. "I'm pretty sure that you're her type." 

Alya flushed. "I doubt that. She doesn't even know I exist."

"I wouldn't say that." Chloe winked.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"How about you come to my party next week and find out."

"Oh…kay?"

"Be at the Le Grand Paris Hotel by 9 next Friday night. Wear something cute and I guarantee that Marinette will be yours by the end of the night.”

"Now that we've got that sorted, we should get to class."

One for flair, Chloe opened the doors to their classroom as if she were some heiress that deserved a grand entrance. Alya rolled her eyes, but followed all the same. Sabrina, Chloe's best-friend-and-definitely-not-girlfriend, was already sitting there waiting for them.

They all took their seats and Alya immediately lost herself in thought as the other three talked about something coming up. All jokes aside, Alya doubted that it would be as simple as Chloe had made it out to be. The other girl was just so  _ busy _ , and they hadn't had any classes together since Art Foundations their first semester which was over a year ago now. There was just no way that Marinette would give her more than the time of day now.

But, there was no harm in trying. 

Right?

* * *

She couldn't do this.

Alya had been standing in the lobby of Le Grand Paris Hotel for no less than fifteen minutes and, no matter how hard she tried, she had yet to move towards the elevator. She knew that it was a pretty ritzy place, but Adrien had mentioned off-handedly that Chloe hadn't just rented out a space, her father actually _ owned  _ this place _ . _

But that wasn't the reason why she was rooted in place.

Oh no, the reason was the growing realization that she was going to finally get to socialize with Marinette instead of just admiring her from afar… and she had forgotten to do her eyebrows.

Now, Alya wasn't normally a vain person. But, the whole point of coming to this party was for her to impress the girl of her dreams! How on earth was she supposed to do that if she was wearing an old top, ripped jeans, and her makeup incomplete?

She was considering running home to fix the problem when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, jolting her from her thoughts.

"Geeze, I didn't think I was that quiet," Nino said with a laugh. "What's got you all spaced out? I've been trying to say hi to you for over a minute now."

"I've got to go home." Her legs tensed to prepare her for a sprint to the door, but Nino's hand kept her in place.

"Oh no you don't. I'm not about to go to this party by myself."

She gave him a once over, noticed his classy over shirt and dark jeans and groaned.

"Yeah, well you look good. Me? I look like a mess. And not even a hot one! I even forgot to do my eyebrows! There is no way that I'm going up there like this."

"You look fine Alya. Besides, there is no way I'm letting you abandon me. Especially when we've got the same mission."

Alya paused in her freak out to raise an eyebrow at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well… You see, Adrien is going tonight and—"

"No way. Are you finally going to confess your undying love?"

Nino winced. "Finally?"

"What, did you think I was as dense as our dear friend Adrien?"

"Hey! I'm not dense!"

The two of them flinched as Adrien, smiling widely, approached.

"O-Oh." Nino laughed nervously, " Hey Adrien. Fancy seeing you here?"

"Smooth," Alya muttered under her breath. She could feel a scathing glare being sent her way, but she ignored it in favor of redirecting Adrien. "Took you long enough. Weren't you the one who said to be here ten minutes ago?"

Adrien scratched at the back of his head. "Sorry, my dad called. He kept talking about all of these photoshoots that he wanted me to do."

"I thought you weren't ever going to do photoshoots again?"

"Well, yeah, but he still doesn't understand that. I think he'll get it eventually, but it's a slow process." He sighed. "Let's go on up. I'm sure the party is already going at this point and Chloe will never let us live it down if we're too late."

They made their way to the elevator. It took awhile for it to come down and by the time the doors were opening to release a few guests the trio had moved on to talking about a test coming up. Adrien pressed the button for the floor that they were going to, one that was far higher than Alya was entirely comfortable with, and just as the doors were about to close a familiar voice called out. Adrien reflexively pushed the button to keep the doors open and a moment later a hurricane of a person flew into the small compartment

"Thanks," Marinette said as she tried to catch her breath. She surveyed the area and a bright smile that made Alya just as breathless as Marinette had been. "Hi, everyone. I didn't realize that you guys were going to be here tonight too!"

"Hey, Marinette," Nino said with a smile. Alya ignored the slight nudge that he gave her. " I didn't realize Chloe’d invited you, too."

"Yeah. I didn't think I would have the time, but Chloe was super insistent this time." She laughed. "I think she just wants to find an excuse to hang out again, but don't tell her that I figured her out."

"Your secret is safe with us." Adrien winked.

"By the way," Nino said as he threw an arm around Alya. "Have you met our friend Alya?"

Alya was pretty sure her heart stopped completely when Marinette turned that smile directly on her.

"Raspberry macarons, right?"

Alya blinked. "Excuse me?"

Marinette's hands flew up to her mouth as her face flushed prettily.

"Sorry," she said through her hands. I. I uh. I memorize our regular's favorites?"

"Oh."

"Let's start over: Hi. I'm Marinette." She extended her hand. "I think we had a class together before, but it's nice to officially meet you?"

"Alya. Alya Cesaire."

They shook hands. It was a bit awkward, but Alya wasn't going to complain over how Marinette's hand lingered in hers a bit longer than was generally polite.

The elevator dinged as they pulled their hands away from each other. Alya looked away as her own cheeks flushed a bit. As the doors opened she caught a wink from Adrien before he exited. The rest of them followed and moments later they were standing before two large doors that were doing little to contain the music inside.

"Do you guys mind if I tag along with you tonight?" Marinette asked. "All of my other friends bailed out on me tonight."

"Sure!" Nino smiled. "We'd be glad to be your backup friends!"

"Back— Nino I didn't mean it like that! I just meant—"

"It's cool, Marinette." Nino laughed. "Though if you wanted to party hard you'll probably have to find new friends."

"That's okay, I'm not really in the mood to do that anyways."

"Sounds good to me," Alya chimed in.

A moment later, Adrien opened the door, releasing a wave of sound. As they made their way inside Alya noticed just how many people there were here that she had never seen before. Some were sitting at a small grouping of tables and at a bar, but a large majority of them were dancing on a temporary dance floor in front of an over-enthusiastic DJ.

If Alya was being honest, she would have expected far fewer people for what was probably considered a house party, but she supposed that this was probably just the norm for a rich heiress like Chloe. Said hostess didn't find them until after they had gotten their drinks from the bar. And, when she did, she immediately sent a coy look towards Alya at the sight of how close she was to Marinette. In her defense the music was loud and it was hard to hear her…

Or at least that was the excuse she was giving herself.

"Took you long enough, Dupain-Cheng."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I told you I had to prep for my parents tomorrow. They're doing a big sale and—"

"Yeah, yeah." She leaned in for a quick hug. "At least you're not getting up at an ungodly hour anymore."

Alya raised an eyebrow at her. Marinette caught it and continued sheepishly.

"My dad's back went out the summer before University. And, since we couldn't afford to close the bakery for the whole summer season, I had to get up every morning with mom to help with the bakery. I didn't have to get up as early as she did, but it was still a lot earlier than I had to for school."

"That must have been hard."

Marinette shrugged. "I didn't mind too much."

"Marinette has always been a self-sacrificing saint," Chloe rolled her eyes. "I can't even remember how many times she stopped to rescue a cat from a tree."

"That was one time!"

"If by one time you mean once every month, then sure," Nino chimed in.

Alya watched in bemusement as Marinette immediately rounded on Nino. He raised a placating hand and tried his best not to laugh as she tried to prove him wrong. But, unfortunately for him, he could only last so long before he lost the battle and burst out laughing.

"They're exaggerating," Marinette said directly to Alya.

"I think it's admirable."

"You… you do?"

"Well, yeah. Not everyone would stop to help someone less fortunate or give up a whole summer to help their parents out. Sounds like you're an everyday superhero to me."

"I…" Marinette scratched at her cheek. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Why not?"

"Well… I'm just a normal girl with a normal life. Nothing super special about that you know?"

"I don't actually. You seem pretty special to me."

Alya wasn't sure when exactly they had gotten so close, but suddenly there were much closer than they'd ever been. She was very tempted to cross the remaining space between them, but she didn't even know if Marinette was interested in her like that and she didn't want to scare the poor girl away if she could help it.

"God, just kiss already,"

Chloe's voice immediately sent the two girls in opposite directions like two teenagers who had been caught sitting just a bit too close during a movie.

"We weren't—"

"Chloe, we aren't—"

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, boys. I can only watch so much mutual pining before it gives me a headache." She slipped an arm through Adrien and Nino's arms and, only moments later, Alya was left alone with Marinette.

"Sorry about that," Marinette said, sighing. "Chloe means well, but sometimes she lacks… tact."

"It's okay. I've been in the same class with her for a month now so I've been getting used to it."

They laughed together for a short time before falling into an awkward silence that seemed to stretch for far too long. Alya wanted nothing more than to recover the moment that had been previously ruined, but she didn't know how best to go about it. She was about to bring up something mundane like classes when Marinette turned to her.

"Hey… I'm not actually that much of a party person. Would you mind if we… went somewhere else?"

Alya blinked. Did she really just—

"To like hang out!" Marinette continued, hands flailing in a blinding flurry. "Like at a cafe or, or, or a park! I totally didn't mean it in a weird way. No sirree! Just two girls getting to know each other on a getting-to-know-you kind of date!"

Marinette eventually petered out as her arms calmed down just wringing her hands. Now, Alya wasn't exactly a detective, but between Chloe's slip of 'mutual pining', the nervous energy that seemed to be rolling off of Marinette, and said girl's proposal… maybe just maybe…

"Alright," she said as she lead the way out of the party. "How about you pick the place and I pay?"

Marinette spluttered, hot on her heels. "You can't pay!"

It didn't take long for them to make it out of the party. As they waited for the elevator Alya turned to Marinette and started counting on her fingers.

"One: I'm pretty sure I can beat you to the check. Two: you're the one who called this a date. And three: that heavily implies that only one of us is paying unless we're going dutch."

"But it was my idea!"

"Ok, how about this. If this one goes well, then you can pay for the next one?"

Marinette stood there for a moment, contemplating, before smile spread across her face.

"Alright, it's a deal."

Alya found a smile of her own spreading across her face. She wasn't exactly sure where this was going to take her, but she couldn't wait to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was a part of the Let's Pounce Zine! Please go check out the other works that were a part of it over on letspouncezine on tumblr. Also, if you wouldn't mind, please let me know what you thought!


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